* Trip is the first main rival of Ash's that he has battled in the first round of a League Conference.

* Trip is the first main rival of Ash's that he has battled in the first round of a League Conference.

* In the Pokémon World Tournament, Trip is seen using a {{p|Jellicent}}, despite having featured only with a {{p|Frillish}} in the anime. However, it could be possible that Frillish has evolved off-screen in the anime.

* In the Pokémon World Tournament, Trip is seen using a {{p|Jellicent}}, despite having featured only with a {{p|Frillish}} in the anime. However, it could be possible that Frillish has evolved off-screen in the anime.

Contents

History

Younger Trip

As a young child, Trip became inspired to be a Pokémon Trainer after watching Alder battle. He later met the Champion, who would let him pet and feed the Bouffalant Alder was battling with. This experience inspired him to work hard and train to become Champion. As such, Trip idolizes Alder and has great respect for him.

Trip appeared again at a Battle Club in A Rival Battle for Club Champ!, where he and Ash had a 5-on-5 battle, although Trip initially offered to have a Full Battle with Ash. His Tranquill defeated Ash's Oshawott and Tepig in just two hits with its Super Luck-boosted Aerial Ace, but lost to Ash's Pikachu. Pikachu was defeated by Servine again. Ash's Snivy defeated Trip's Servine by using Attract. Trip's Frillish later defeated Pidove and Snivy, causing Ash to lose the battle. Afterwards, Trip called Pikachu and Snivy "okay", but called the rest of Ash's team a joke.

Trip reappeared in A Venipede Stampede!, where he was training in Castelia City when a swarm of Venipede suddenly attacked. He used his Lampent to try to fight them off, but Ash yelled at him for doing so, saying that he was only making things worse. Trip insulted him, but was interrupted by Burgh, who agreed with Ash. Later, Trip went after the leader of the Venipede swarm and ordered Lampent to hit it with Shadow Ball, but Ash blocked the attack. Again, Burgh told him that he was going about it the wrong way, so he stopped. Trip then used Tranquill to help coax out the remaining Venipede and lead them safely out of the city.

Trip's next appearance was in Ash and Trip's Third Battle!, along with his Vanillite and Timburr, where he battled Ash. The battle ended in a tie after Servine defeated Snivy, Vanillite tied with Tepig and Oshawott defeated Timburr.

Trip reappeared in Ash Versus the Champion! where he revealed he had already obtained five Badges. During that time he also got to reunite with Alder who couldn't remember him. Seeing how much Alder loafed about while battling Ash, Trip's opinion of him slightly changed.

He reappeared in Curtain Up, Unova League! and Mission: Defeat Your Rival!. He had traveled to Vertress City to compete in the Vertress Conference and met up with Ash and Ash's other rivals in Unova. During the match-up process it was revealed he would battle Ash in the first round of the competition. However, here he was not arrogant as in past meetings. Trip used his Serperior against Ash's Pikachu, but Pikachu managed to defeat Serperior, eliminating Trip from the League and apparently ending his rivalry with Ash.

Character

Trip's camera

Trip has a teal-colored digital camera, with which he takes photos for illustrating his journey. He also has an Xtransceiver so that he can keep in touch with Battle Clubs. Overall, he is a well-reserved individual who tends to keep his feelings to himself. He expressed his emotions much like Ash does now when he was younger. His strategy is all about planning ahead and completing the basics of Pokémon training. Compared to the other rivals of the Unova region, Trip is rather distant and prefers not to interact with them outside of battle.

Trip tends to think very little of the Kanto region—which he refers to as "the boonies"—and anyone from there. He thinks of Ash as a hillbilly who needs to go back to the basics of Pokémon training. However, he will help him out once in a while, as seen when he informed Ash that Oshawott's Aqua Jet was uncontrollable because he had his eyes closed.

Despite having just started out as a Trainer, Trip already implements many strategies in his battling. He has defeated Ash in all but two of their battles (the former which they tied, and the latter in which Ash won), despite Ash being a much more experienced Trainer. However, he is less forgiving than Ash and takes losses harder. An instance of this is, when he lost to Cilan, he took a photo of Cilan and Dwebble. When Cilan asked him why he was doing that, Trip replied that he was recording this moment so that he would remember his frustration. Trip also actively insults and is at most as mature as Ash, as shown when he elbowed Ash (and Ash did the same) for the attention of Champion Alder.

As a result of meeting Alder as a child and the promise he was given by him, Trip viewed strength as the most important thing to accomplishing his goals. As such, he deemed any activities that wouldn't increase his strength as unnecessary as seen when he left after his losses in the Club Battle and the Clubsplosion, also when he refused to battle Ash on multiple occasions. After his reunion with Alder and his disappointment at Alder's aloofness, Trip began to seek out his own path to beating Alder and becoming champion. During the Junior Cup, Trip had shown a heighten amount of confidence in his own abilities to the point of arrogance, believing he could defeat both Alder and Cynthia. Though after losing to Alder he began to realize the error in his views, as such he had a change in his attitude. This can be seen in Curtain Up, Unova League! when he greets Ash and his friends with a more friendly approach than before and his change in attitude was noticed by the other characters such as Cilan and Iris. Despite his change in attitude he still maintains his distance and prefers not to interact with the other rivals.

Tranquill is the second Pokémon that Trip was revealed to have. It first appeared in A Rival Battle for Club Champ! where Trip used it to battle Ash's Oshawott, Tepig and Pikachu. It was shown to be powerful, as its Super Luck Ability allowed it to take down both Oshawott and Tepig with two hits. It defeated the former two, before losing to Pikachu.

Frillish is the third Pokémon that Trip was revealed to have. He first appeared in A Rival Battle for Club Champ! where Trip used him to battle Ash's Snivy and Pidove. He defeated Pidove, and also Snivy after a long battle, where he was able to take advantage of Cursed Body due to Snivy's constant use of physical attacks.

Trivia

Trip is the first of Ash's rivals to lose a battle against one of Ash's friends.

Trip is the first main rival of Ash's that he has battled in the first round of a League Conference.

In the Pokémon World Tournament, Trip is seen using a Jellicent, despite having featured only with a Frillish in the anime. However, it could be possible that Frillish has evolved off-screen in the anime.

Trip is the only rival from Unova to have participated in every battle tournament within the region.

Aside from the Junior Cup, Trip has lost in the first round of every tournament.